A Message from God

Sherry Hayes-Peirce recommends using a Mass journal during Lent to make the most of God's Word and the homily.

We are just hours away from the Lenten season and it is the perfect time to begin a new practice as part of your 40-day journey to Easter.

Journaling about the holy Scriptures that are proclaimed during the five Sundays of Lent and the homily from the presider or deacon is a powerful way to enter into deeper reflection.

Every Sunday, we attend Mass and we have a choice to listen to the homily or read the bulletin; some sleep and others think about what they are going to do when they leave.

During this Lent, after the Gospel is proclaimed and before the priest begins his homily, say a little prayer:

Lord please speak through your servant (insert the name of the deacon or presider) to me through this homily. Help me to open my ears, eyes, mind and heart to a message that will answer the prayers I hold in the silence of my heart today.

As the social media strategist for my parish I am paid to listen intently to the homily my pastor delivers every Sunday. He never disappoints and I am always able to decipher a powerful message to share with my parish. He is gifted with interpreting Scripture and weaving them into a contemporary space and time.

At the end of every Mass the last words we hear are, “Go forth, glorifying the Lord with your life.” The message we hear can lay a path for the steps we take. If we don’t even hear what the message is, we miss our marching orders for the week ahead.

Trust me, I know it can be hard to remember things sometimes—truly no judgment! I am at a certain age and experiencing biological processes that preclude me from remembering what I ate for a meal the day before.

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I want to share three things you can do to help you remember the message:

Get a journal that you can write down how the readings and the Gospel relate to the challenges you are currently dealing with. Writing these things down helps you to create your own resource guide that becomes a well to draw from when you need to pour the Word of God over you. Over the years I have used Dynamic Catholic’s Mass Journal to capture my personal feelings and connections to the scriptures and homily. Another great option is A Book for All Seasons: Journaling with Sunday Scriptures—and while shopping in Target I think the Holy Spirit led me to Church Notes. Any blank journal or notebook will do, but the date, Scriptures, homilist, and your reflections should be noted.

The pandemic brought most parishes kicking and screaming into the world of streaming Mass live on social media and other digital platforms, creating opportunities for you to watch the homily on demand like you watch other things. While Mass is not a sitcom, reality TV, or something you binge watch, how we consume information has changed. Technology allows you to create a digital library of your favorite homilies.

Using your phone during Mass to take notes on what resonates for you in the message is also a great way to capture your feelings that grow from hearing the scriptures and homily. This technique allows you to have access to the resources you have filed as a document on your phone in the palm of your hand. It gives you a cool tool to help you evangelize the word of God from the tips of your fingers.

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Journaling about the holy Scriptures that are proclaimed during the Sundays of Lent and the homily is a powerful way to enter into deeper reflection. #CatholicMom

This practice helps me share with priests and deacons at my parish every Christmas my favorite homily of the year from each of them. I share the readings and why their message resonated with me as the inscription for their Christmas card.

By continuing this practice throughout this beautiful season, the gift to you will be your own book of resources as the testament to how Our Lord has brought you through your trials by His holy Word and the words of a servant priest.